darling, i’ve been closed off from people for so long i barely remember what they look like anymore. you might as well be an alien to me right now. i stare at the ground, i shuffle my feet in the grocery aisles, i shop at walmart at 3am so i’m guaranteed to not run into anyone i know. this is my life. it’s not pretty but it’s what i’ve got after seventy years of living. when i got whiskers five years ago she became my best friend, this little tabby cat right here. when i would come home from an errand or whatnot she would be the one to greet me, with no malice, no need for anything except food, love, and a place to sleep. i liked that. so i got another cat, lenny, and another, frank, and then before you know it i’ve got a whole family of kitties, and they’re having kittens and so … i guess you could call me a hoarder. but if you take these cats away you’ll be taking away my entire life. i don’t do anything else, i don’t go anywhere, now that i’m retired. i just tend to these cats, and that one, the dead one you found, well, i’m not sure how that happened but i can assure you it is not normal. it is not normal at all. probably just had an illness or something.
i just want you to know that, though. that if you take these cats you’ll be taking my life away from me. you’ll be sentencing an old woman to death. you think i’m being cruel to these animals but i think you’re being cruel to me. and who is more important? truth is: we both are. we’re all important. and i don’t want to die alone. i want to die with my cats. so unless you bring the police in here to drag these cats out, i respectfully will have to ask you to leave.
